Boxy Babe is on the Market and Looking Good! 4132 Oleatha, 63116.

It has been a journey, but she is ready to go! Check out the link now!

Just listed: 4132 Oleatha Ave, St Louis, MO 63116 for $104,900

New Boxy Babe gets and overhaul! 4132 Oleatha BEFORE.

The latest property to hit the market from Starke, Inc. has gone from drab to fab. This little Mid-Century Modern Bungalow needed a little TLC. Clearly, it was neglected and not loved like it should have been, but things happen and owners get busy. We had been scouting for a new property in Tower Grove South for a while now. The goal? Buy the ugliest house on the cutest and most stable block possible, and then turn it around for an affordable price. Too often people think that a renovater/rehabber buys a property and sticks a little bit of lipstick on the "pig". Often, people are right. That is not the case when Starke and his team (myself included) gets involved. The name of the game for many people in the renovation game is, get in and get out with as little updating as possible. While it is smart on the pocket book, it isn't great for the neighborhood. Starke focuses on one geographic area at a time and then attempts to help the whole hood by raising values. This is easily accomplished when the renovation appeals to a wide audience and has stellar updates. 

Here are the before pics:

ERRRRRRR....Back up and REWIND! You never want to admit that you have to...

OK, so I told you guys that the floors on Ginger had been redone, and they had. In fact, they had taken days and days of hard work and some good money. Not to mention, they had eaten up several days of time on the schedule (time is money in the flip biz). So, imagine the pain of having to admit they look like crap. That's right....I SAID IT, they LOOKED LIKE CRAP. When the dust settled and the floors dried they were not looking so sharp. Here is some friendly advice DO NOT TRY TO REDO FLOORS YOURSELF!

 I am never quite prepared for the conversations that as an agent you have to have with your clients that aren't so nice. Let's be honest though, real estate isn't always wrapped in a nice neat package. I wish it was, but if it was anybody could sucessfully help you buy and sell real estate. Right? So, armed with my best ally on how finishes are supposed to look, Dan Carter I waded into the muck and told the investor that the best possible thing to do was to have the floors redone. This wasn't easy for me to say. I mean, basically I was saying, "You need to spend a couple grand and stall a week to have this crap fixed. Oh and by the way, that puts you further behind schedule and you may miss your window to draw the largest number of buyers." Yay! Go Leigh, way to make them love you. To my surprise, I didn't get much fight. His statement was, "Will it affect the sale? If the answer is "yes" then let's have them redone."

Needless to say, I am now waiting on floors so they can go in and get the rest of it done before it can go on the market. Anyone who knows me knows that patience isn't my virtue, but it is going to look hot!

Floors from Start to Finish!

Finding hardwood floors is like hitting pay dirt. If you know they are there, it's a bonus. Just like paydirt though, you are going to have to work for them. Ginger is a perfect example...Yucky beige carpet in the living and dining rooms, more carpet in the bedrooms, hall and kitchen covered in layers and layers of vinyl and plywood tile. What has tp happen is all of that crap has to be removed and then, and only then do you know what you are working with.

Here are the "Before" pics of Ginger's floors:

The kictchen has LAYERS of pressed board laminate. Gross.












The living room and dining have YUCKY BEIGE carpet.











The Bedroom has blue indoor out-door carpet.

I can't say that I am a huge fan of any of these looks! Below are some of the during shots.

As you can see, the carpet glue didn't come up very easily or well on the bedroom floors.  That just means more work when they sand. :(

In the living room we found that they have removed a large section of the decorative inlay. We aren't sure why. One side of the fireplace was OK, this side was not. This fix was not easy but we got creative. We found a decorative medallion corner piece in the closet under carpet. Needless to say, the closet is now missing a medallion and the living room has a new one. The floor was then patched in the closet with scrap hardwood and refinished. :)

The kitchen had so much glue on the floor that the original floors could not be saved. No worries, we will be matching the hardwood from the house and installing it here. The tools are not included in the sale of this house.














Now, on to the finished product:

The hallway no longer has pressboard tile!

Bedroom floors refinished!

Dining redone!

Kitchen floors redone!

There you have it! Floors from start to finish!